LONDON — Celebrity facialist and aesthetician Melanie Grant is adding another destination to her growing list of studios.
Her second U.S. outpost has opened on 78th Street and Madison Avenue in New York City with a helping hand from Violet Grey, which set up its second flagship in the city earlier this year.
Grant’s The Studio Upstairs is situated on the second floor of Violet Grey’s The Madison Store and had a soft launch in May, with clients coming in for treatments pre-Met Gala.
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“Cassandra Grey has supported my business so much over the years, from when I opened in Los Angeles. I have so much admiration for her brand and what she’s built — especially the way she runs a business and her taking Violet Grey back,” she said in an interview.
New York will be a new learning curve for the Australian-born facialist and aesthetician. She has studios in Los Angeles, Melbourne, Sydney and a London opening scheduled for later this year.
“It’s such a big deal for me and it’s a real trust thing, too, to partner with another brand or business. In Los Angeles, I’m neighbors with Violet Grey, we share a lot of the same clientele and Cassandra has always referred many clients and vice versa, which is why it’s the perfect pairing,” said Grant.
A New York opening was always on the cards for Grant, but it’s a project she’s carefully pored over herself.
“New York is definitely where a lot of my clienteles are based and I love the city because I got married there. The New York woman and her ideal aesthetic is different. Los Angeles is very glossy and shiny, whereas New York is more hard glamor,” she said.
Grant enlisted help from the Paris-based interiors company Pierre Augustine Rose for the space’s lush furnishings.
The 1,075-square-foot space was initially designed to fit three treatment rooms, but Grant scrapped the idea in favor of one large treatment room.
“In New York especially, space is a luxury. When I go for facials, one thing that stands out to me is how claustrophobic the treatment rooms are — it always feels like you’re in a cupboard,” she said, referring to the open plan treatment room that imitates a living room with a sofa and seating area.
Another reason she partnered with Grey is because of how “deliberate and considered” she is in her approach. “Nothing is done in a cheap or quick way to make more revenue or compromise the services,” she added.
A sense of community is what brought Grey to opening in New York.
“I’m obsessed with the ‘70s Playboy brand. I always describe the retail experiences as sort of like a Playboy Mansion. I want to create a cultural hub or experiential retail to serve our customers,” she said.
Grey met Grant through Victoria Beckham when the latter was venturing into the beauty category. She was quickly taken by Grant’s “enthusiasm, authority and humility.”
“We at Violet Grey always want to partner with the best people and those that strive to do the best. Melanie is already such a big part of our community and inner circle,” said Grey, who has often vetted products with Grant and worked on launches for her collaborations with brands such as Augustinus Bader, Victoria Beckham Beauty and Eighth Day.
Grant’s treatment services are not a quick fix. They typically run from an hour and a half to two hours involving a skin consultation followed by an in-depth tutorial of the products and technology being used.
“Sometimes the treatments aren’t the most pleasant when it involves a Fraxel Laser or skin needling, but people still want to feel like they’re being taken care of. It’s sugarcoating the pain so that people leave feeling positive. There’s nothing worse than having a really painful treatment and being told to leave with an icepack,” she said.
Grant has been working in the beauty industry for 25 years and now counts clients such as Beckham and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as friends.